Bryston, long known for their massive power amplifiers, has branched into marketing speakers. One of their first models is the Middle T, reviewed here, which is a three-way floor-stander.

The Middle T has a 1" metal dome tweeter, 5.25" midrange, and two 8" woofers. The crossover frequencies are 160 Hz from the woofer to the midrange, and 2.3 kHz from the midrange to the tweeter.

At 40" high and 81 pounds, it's a floor-standing speaker, but not so large that it overpowers a room with its physical presence.

On the audio side however, this is definitely a heavyweight. It produces a huge soundstage, very low fall-off at off-axis listening posistions, and a flat frequency response down to 20 Hz. You read that correctly: 20 Hz. This is one of the only speakers I have ever tested that does well in the bench tests at 20 Hz. So, you don't need a subwoofer (that doesn't mean you can't add a couple of subs to blow the windows out with movies if you wish).

I was simply amazed at the sound. Bryston didn't cut any corners when they designed the Middle T. However, they did add some angled (not-900) corners on the enclosure to minimize parallel surfaces that would cause standing waves inside. A rap with the knuckles on the enclosure indicates heavy damping, which minimizes resonance.

You can choose real wood veneer or vinyl finish in the same color, which will reduce the price a few hundred dollars. Frankly, with spouses tending to want to put potted plants on speakers, I would go with the vinyl, which won't stain from any moisture from those pots. Vinyl covering on speakers has improved so much over the years, it is nearly impossible to see any difference between vinyl and real wood.

The Bench Tests were astounding, showing low distortion and wide dispersion without much fall-off.

Bryston Middle T Floor-Standing Speakers Highlights Summary

• Excellent build quality

• Produces high SPL with low distortion

• Flat frequency response down to 20 Hz

• Excellent off-axis response

• Choice of real wood veneer or vinyl (to save a few hundred dollars)

Introduction to the Bryston Middle T Floor-Standing Speakers Review

I have reviewed many Bryston products as Editor of Secrets, in fact, over as long a period as they warranty their amplfiers (20 years). I have never been disappointed in the results, and I always hated having to send them back after the review. Some examples of my reviews include the BP17 Stereo Preamplifier, and the BDA-2 DAC.

I especially hated having to lift the power amps into the boxes, and lift them again onto the loading area for pickup, which usually resulted in the need for a deep tissue massage later that day. I watched, with tears in my eyes as the muscle-bound 5'4" female UPS driver easily hoisted them onto her truck, and I waved bye-bye as she drove away.

As is with most successful companies, Bryston wanted to expand their product line, so they decided to venture into speakers. But not just another speaker. They planned carefully, wanting specific performance, such as low fall-off when sitting off-axis. That in itself is tough to accomplish, and I was shocked at how successfully they achieved it, because at first glance, the Middle T doesn't look much different than other similar sized speakers.

Looks can be deceiving though, and in this case, they are. Looking at the top of the speaker, one will notice that the enclosure edge first turns outward by about 150 , and then inward by the same amount. This reduces the number of surfaces that are parallel, therefore, also reducing the tendency for standing waves developing during playing.